Youngsters

Tons of young birds around at the moment, of course, and I have taken a few pics of some of them. Some pics are better than others so, after weeding out the really bad ones, here's some of the not-so-bad ones.
Most of the photos, especially the tits, are substantial crops from the original. Click for larger size

Juvenile Blackbird in the garden at home

Young Blue Tit in my sister's garden at Newbury yesterday

Young Great Tit, also at my sister's:

Spot the odd item out. The distinctly unbirdlike Queen Mary 2, taken from the ferry to Southampton. Impressive - and British (despite being French built and American owned, although her port of registry is Southampton. No, I am not turning into a ship-spotter). Not bad for a photo taken through the ferry's windows. I couldn't get up on deck, thanks to a knee injury and being on crutches, so I was stuck inside, a shame on a nice day and when the ferry resembles a bear garden and you can't escape from the noise, kids running around and the all-pervading smell of chips!

Also at my sister's were Red Kites but none came close enough for a decent photo so I had to make do with distant, crap shots such as this. This kite was carrying something, a bird of some sort. There's rich pickings for them on the nearby A34, judging by the amount of dead animals we saw on the way there.